Though there was no hope of India upstaging the mighty Malaysia, the “clueless” display of P. Kashyap was baffling. The 2012 Olympic Games quarterfinalist crashed to his fourth successive defeat, in as many encounters, against Chong Wei Feng.

In fact, in the space of just 95 minutes of on-court action, Malaysia had raced away to a winning 3-0 lead against a “well-prepared” host. Against World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei, National champion K. Srikanth lost in straight games after looking good in the first.

The tame surrender of Sumeeth Reddy & Manu Attri to Boon Heong Tan & Thein How Hoon, too, did not come as a surprise.

However, truly baffling was Kashyap’s loss of focus. Kashyap, who admitted he had “no clue of what was going on in the second game (which he lost 21-6)” will have to make amends by playing a major role in the remainder of India’s campaign.

Gurusaidutt, who last beat Daren Liew 21-16, 21-20 in the Indian Badminton League last August, prevented a 5-0 defeat by keeping his nerves when it mattered. Trailing 18-19 in the decider, Gurusaidutt played aggressively and won when the Malaysian tossed the shuttle long.

India now faces a must-win situation against Korea on Monday. Korea ran into unexpected resistance from Germany and eventually prevailed 3-2.